When I think of the music styles which have been prevalent during the last 60 or 70 years, nearly all of them sound dated by now (except the most contemporary ones of course).

Swing / Big Band music, Rock & Roll / Rockabilly, Beat, Classic Disco, Punk, New Wave and 80's Synth Pop, Grunge, even the first kinds of Rap... regardless of liking them or not, they all sound dated to me, and I would even dare to say that they sound 'objectively dated'.

Prog on the other side does not, for the most part at least. One may like it or not but I hear Fragile, SEBTP, Trilogy, Quadrophenia, Tubular Bells, DSOTM.... the music does not sound dated to me. Some (or even many) early albums may sound dated because of the instrumentation or production, but in most cases the MUSIC itself does not sound dated.

Do you agree? or is it just a subjective illusion because we like it?

The only other genre which does not sound dated to me either is Jazz - Jazz-Rock / Fusion (maybe also because I like it? ). It seems that Jazz has earned some 'eternal' status, as classical music, it may become more or less popular but 'dated' is probably a word that will not be ever applied to it.

I think there are timeless classics in any genre. I'd not say that all Prog has aged well, some of it certainly hasn't aged well at all. I was listening to Airconditioning on the journey to work this morning at that hasn't and I'm sure there are many others (early Yes albums for a start)

If you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise and then just behave like they would - Neil Gaiman

Certian production styles are of an age, even when not limited by the technology of the time. Some Trevor Horn productions from the 80's, for example, although extremely good and way ahead of their time sound very much of their time when you hear them now.

Early Genesis albums had mostly awful production which dated the, If you look at the difference between The Lamb and ATOTT, to me they sound like they could be a decade apart, and that's not taking into account changes in the bands musical style.

As Dean says, there's timeless stuff from every genre and prog is no exception. VDGG and Gentle Giant sound ancient to me, although that's not in any way a criticism.

Well that's why I was quick to say in the OP that albums may sound dated because of instrumentation and/or production, but I was referring more to the music itself, the style of composition and arrangement.

As for early Yes albums, I agree that most albums prior to 1970 sound somehow dated (even if I like many of them), the 60's style still had those elements of psychedelia or even some heritage from beat or 60's folk which makes the music sound more dated, but I feel that the composition and arrangement styled matured extremely quickly as from then.

I think there are timeless classics in any genre. I'd not say that all Prog has aged well, some of it certainly hasn't aged well at all. I was listening to Airconditioning on the journey to work this morning at that hasn't and I'm sure there are many others (early Yes albums for a start)

Something like this ^

And also, sometimes what may have sounded pretty dated 15 years ago, may well sound a lot fresher now,

Because todays sound/music is very diffrent from the sound/music from the late 90's.

Its like fasion, it changes all the time, but at the same time it picks up pieces of history and reinvent them.

I think we are moving into a period, where a lot of elements from the late 60's early 70's (prog and more) is inspiring a new generation, so 70's will be hot (for a few years).

Edited by tamijo - June 24 2013 at 05:44

Prog is whatevey you want it to be. So dont diss other peoples prog, and they wont diss yours

I think compared to some other genres of music, prog had aged fairly well - but if you were to ask a fan of another type of music, eg. disco, if they think the music they like sounds old and 'dated', I doubt they'd say that a type of music they like has aged badly. I think the production of music has a lot to do with whether the music sounds 'old', but I think that the main issue which we're dealing with here is the glasses through which a person looks (or hears).

Some prog can sound dated but some of that is due to the instrumentation and production. Listen to Cathedral's "Stained Glass Stories" for instance and that sounds terribly dated to me. Mind you, some of Yes' Rabin-era stuff now sounds dated due to the 80s production values.

I guess since progressive music was not written as a matter of fashion, but as a listening experience, it will hold it's value no matter how long ago was written, just like jazz or classical music, as somebody mentioned before.

I
don't get what's meant by "dated." Sure, you could say that some music
doesn't hold up well over time because it was just a fad of a
particular era and didn't have good quality. You could say that you had
to be around back then to really understand the music in it's
cultural/historical context (which is, in a sense, true for all music).
But if something is good, then it doesn't matter when it was recorded.
Moog synthesizers might have been an instrumentation quirk particular
to the 70's, but that doesn't matter; what matters is if the Moog sounds
good in the context of the song. The only reason that prog has "aged
well" is that progressive rock bands, in general, tend to produce
quality music.

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